The Desperate Case for Asymmetries at the El Paso Mexican Border: After Biden Made Sense of Its Implications
EL PASO, Texas – Diana, her two 5 and 8-year-old children, her father and her teenage brother David arrived at Ciudad Juarez on Tuesday but their eyes were on El Paso, Texas, just across from the Rio Grande border, where they were planning to petition for asylum.
They were tired after completing a 3-month journey from their native Venezuela. The family wanted their last names to not be used because of their concern that speaking out could jeopardize their claim.
This family is feeling the consequences of President Joe Biden’s actions last week to restrict asylum claims at the Southern border.
According to the president’s proclamation, when unauthorized crossings exceed an average of 2,500 migrants for seven consecutive days restrictions are imposed. This rule heightens the threshold for credible fear screening, that’s when a person makes the case that they fear for their life if they are returned to their home country.
Migrants who try to cross into the U.S. illegally or stay indefinitely in the Mexican side will be deported if the restrictions are lifted.
Diana and her family weren’t aware that the new measures do not allow people crossing the border to petition for asylum. Only migrants with an appointment can get to apply for asylum under the new orders.
The family walked to the border immediately after leaving the bus in Juarez, walking in the heat for about an hour to petition for asylum.
That day was Diana’s 29th birthday, but it went without celebration. Instead, the family got food, water and a place to sleep. The people from other countries were so close to their destinations that their hopes of crossing were slashed by the new asylum policy.
Before the new restrictions were in place, he had petitioned asylum through this border area and received a court date, but it was before the new restrictions.
“We made the mistake of crossing illegally,” he says. “But that’s the desperation of a person who fears for the safety of his loved ones, and because of the need for food.”
The number goes up after a few months according to the Washington Office. Poverty and violence are the root causes of mass migration.
Paty is one of thousands of migrants who have been deported — instead of being given an opportunity to claim asylum — as part of President Biden’s executive actions implemented early last week.
Migrants will be subject to at least “a five year bar to reentry and potential criminal prosecution,” according to the rule by the Department of Homeland Security. .
The seven-day average of illegal crossings is below 1,500, so this ban would stay in place until 14 days later. It can be reinstated once the number goes over 2,500.
A painting of Jesus eating with disciples and feeding a baby in the migrant refugee camp in Mexico, written by Paty DaVinci
One of her daughters has a rare blood disorder that she needs to pay for a costly medical treatment in her home state. Paty had only one option, she says, and that was to migrate to the US to work and save money for her daughter.
There is a mural at the back of the dining room that has a resemblance to Leonardo DaVinci’s The Last Supper. But this painting shows Jesus eating with disciples and feeding migrants.
Paty sits at one of the picnic tables. The woman and her daughter recently arrived here from Mexico. Paty asked not to be identified by her full name because she worries about the safety of her family back home.